Rail spike



March 15, 1927. 1,621,027

J. W. REYNOLDS ET AL RAIL SPIKE Filed Sent. 1, 1925 Glam/"M 0,

Patented Mar. 15, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES W. REYNOLDS AND CARL LEON BALL, OF CHESTER, NEBRASKA.

RAIL SPIKE.

Application filed September 1, 1925. Serial No. 53,846.

This invention aims to provide a spike for rail road rails, the spike being provided upon one side with a heel which, when the spike is driven, will seat on a tie plate at the same time that the head of the spike seats on the flange of the rail, the heel acting as a stop or brace to prevent the spike from being bent due to the lateral pressure imparted to the rail by the rolling stock the construction being such that the spike will be prevented from breaking at the head, the rail being held rigidly, and to gauge, rattling being prevented, and it being possible to use the spike repeatedly, the spike being so constructed that it may be drawn by a claw bar, in the usual way.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the invention appertains.

With the above and other objects inview which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings :Figure 1 shows a device constructed in accordance with the invention, mounted in working position with respect to a tie, a tie plate and the flange of a rail; Figure 2 is n elevation of the spike; Figure 3 is an en view of the spike; Figure 4 is an end elevation showing a modification; Figure 5 is an end elevation showing another modification.

The spike 1 comprises a body 2 provided with a laterally extended head 3 and with a heel 4.merging into the head and the body of the spike, the heel having a sloping outer edge 5 and a lower transverse shoulder 6 which is disposed about at right angles to the axis of the body 1, the width of the heel being substantially equal to the width of the body 2.

The numeral 7 marks a tie, a tie plateis shown at 8, and a rail at 9, the flange of the rail being marked by the numeral 10. The spike passes through the plate 8 into the tie 7 the head 3 engages the flange 10 of the rail 9 on one side of the body 2 of the spike, and

the shoulder 6 01 the heel 4 bears on the tie plate 8, on the opposite side of the body of the spike, the objects stated in the opening portion of this specification being achieved.

In Figure 4, a head of a spike is marked by the numeral 30, and the heel is shown at 31, the sides of the heel converging as at the heel being V-shaped in cross section, rather than rectangular in cross section, as disclosed in Figure 3.

In Figure 5 of the (lrawing'=, the head of the spike is designated by the numeral 33 and the extension is shown at 34, the outer edge of the extension being rounded, as disclosed at 35.

The spike forming the subject matter of this application is so con tructed that it may be turned out as a product of a standard automatic single-action spike-making machine. The amount of material which can be upset in a machine of the class described,

to fashion the head and the heel of the spike, is limited, and is defined by fixed rule's. The head and the heel of the spike shown in this application are so constructed that the spike may be made in a machine of the class alluded to. The present margin of profit on railroad spikes is so small that if the spikes cannot be turned out by machinery of the kind specified, they cannot be turned out at all as a practical commercial article.

What is claimed is A spike which is a product of a standard automatic single-operation spike-making machineythespike comprising a body provided with a head of approximately oval outline and thinned toward its periphery to afford a claw-bar hold on either side of the body, the spike including a heel joined to the body and oi the same width as the body, the under surface of the heel being plane throughout its entire length, the length of the under surface of the heel, measured from the body outwardly to the extremity of said surface, being appreeiabtv less than the distance between said surface and the place where the outer surface of the heel joins the head, measured in a direction parallel to the length of the body, the outer surface of the heel having a continuous slope from the upper surface of the head to the extreme outer end of the under surface of the heel.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own, we have hereto aflixed our signatures.

JAMES W. REYNOLDS. CARL LEON BALL. 

